Guide to the Elgin Victor Kuykendall Papers 1892-1956
Cage 59

Summary Information

Repository
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries
Creator
Kuykendall, Elgin Victor
Title
Elgin Victor Kuykendall Papers
ID
Cage 59
Date [inclusive]
1892-1956
Extent
8000.0 items.
General Physical Description note
11 linear feet of shelf space.
Language
English
Abstract
Correspondence, business and legal papers, deeds, contracts, briefs and court transcriptions, research notes, drafts, speeches and printed material relating to Judge Kuykendall's properties and business interests; his office career as legislator, chairman of the Public Service Commission and Superior Court judge; his research in Asotin, Garfield and Columbia County history and Nez Percé Indian legend and lore. Correspondence primarily with: Homer Bone, Knute Hill, Otis Halbert Holmes, Ernest O. Holland, George B. Kuykendall, Jerome Kuykendall.

Preferred Citation note

[Item Description]. Cage 59, Elgin Victor Kuykendall Papers. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Biographical/Historical note

Elgin Victor Kuykendall was born at Oakland, Oregon in 1870 and spent his early years at Fort Simcoe, Washington, where his father, George Benson Kuykendall, was the Indian Agency physician. His family moved to Pomeroy, Washington in the 1880s, and there he finished school, briefly taught and studied law in the office of Samuel Cosgrove, later Governor of Washington. Kuykendall practiced law in Pomeroy from the 1890s until 1924 when he was appointed Superior Court Judge for Asotin, Garfield and columbia Counties. In the meantime he had held several elective posts in local government, had been twice elected to the State Senate (sessions of 1917 and 1919) and had served four years as the Chairman of the State Public Service Commission. His political career was generally associated with the progressive wing of the Republican Party. Following his appointment as Superior Court Judge he was reelected to the non-partisan position several times until his retirement in 1949.

In addition to his legal and political careers, Kuykendall as also involved with research in eastern Washington history and Indian lore. Following the inspiration of his father, who had been a local historian and genealogist, he wrote many articles on local history for the press, collected Indian legends and lore, particularly of the Nez Perce, managed the local pioneer association and eventually wrote a history of Southeastern Washington. Additionally, Kuykendall was active in historic preservation and memorial organizations such as the Whitman Memorial Association, the Lewis and Clark Memorial Association and the restoration efforts at Fort Simcoe. His interest in local history led to donate his father’s papers to the Washington State University Library in 1949; in turn, his heirs donated his papers shortly after his death in 1958.

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Scope and Contents note

The papers of Elgin Victor Kuykendall consist of correspondence, business papers, deeds, contrasts, legal briefs, depositions, courtroom transcriptions, research notes, drafts, manuscripts and photographs relative to Kuykendall’s private and business affairs, his political activities, his position on the bench and his historical research projects. Aside from the considerable portion of the collection which deals with the history of Southeastern Washington, the subjects which most dominate the papers are the civil and criminal cases brought before the Superior Courts of Asotin, Garfield and Columbia Counties. Additionally, the general correspondence contains many references to Washington State politics, elections and public appointments in the 1930s and 1940s. The State Public Service Commission is also briefly documented.

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Arrangement note

The papers of E. V. Kuykendall are arranged in five series:

Series 1: Business Papers, ca. 1900-ca. 1956. Deeds contracts, bills, receipts, record books and other papers related to Kuykendall’s properties in Southeastern Washington and Central Oregon, to the Kuykendall-Start Company, the Kenwood Promotion Company, Kuykendall Bros., Kuykendall and Gose-Attorneys, and the Chloride Queen Mine.

Series 2: Judicial and legal papers, 1917-1957. Briefs, depositions, and other legal papers submitted to the Superior Court in various cases heard by Kuykendall, abbreviated transcripts of trials kept in Kuykendall’s handwriting on selected cases heard between 1927 and 1949, a folder of letters of national reaction to the 1931 Herbert Niccolls case, in which Kuykendall sentenced a 13 year old boy to life imprisonment, correspondence and documents concerning naturalization proceedings administered by Kuykendall’s court, and correspondence and documents relative to several cases in which Kuykendall served as attorney or executor-of-estate.

Series 3: Historical Writings and Speeches, ca. 1920-ca. 1955. Notes, drafts, manuscripts and printed copies of a number of historical and ethnological essays written by Kuykendall, including Historic Glimpses of Asotin County and Kuykendall’s memoirs, drafts of speeches on historical and public affairs and Kuykendall’s correspondence with various historic preservation associations.

Series 4: Personal and Political Papers (1892-1950). Documents related to elections in Southeastern Washington, Kuykendall’s candidacy papers for judicial elections, Kuykendall’s certificates of bar admission, and licenses to practice, a series of diaries (1923-1945) and numerous photographs, some identified mostly of Kuykendall and his family, Southeastern Washington and early pictures of Pomeroy, Washington and its residents.

Series 5: General Correspondence, 1923-1951. The correspondence is complete for the years 1923-1924 and 1933-1945 and concerns the operations of the Court, personal matters and state politics. Correspondence include Clarence Martin, Arthur Langlie, Homer Bond, Knute Hill, Otis Halbert Holmes, Ernest O. Holland, George B. Kuykendall, and Jerome Kuykendall. This series also contains Kuykendall’s correspondence relating to the Kiwanis Club, the Knights of Pythias Lodge and the Sons of the American Revolution.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries © ca. 1975

http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/masc
Terrell Library
P.O. Box 645610
Pullman, WA, 99164-5610
509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu

Conditions Governing Access note

This collection is open for research use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Elgin Victor Kuykendall's heirs donated his papers to the Washington State University Library shortly after his death in 1958.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

  • Nez Percé Indians--Legends
  • Washington (State). Superior Court (Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin Counties)
  • Washington Public Service Commission

Geographic Name(s)

  • Asotin County (Wash.)--History
  • Columbia County (Wash.)--History
  • Garfield County (Wash.)--History

Personal Name(s)

  • Bone, Homer Truett, 1883-1970
  • Hill, Knute, 1876-1963
  • Holland, Ernest Otto, 1874-1950
  • Holmes, Otis Halbert, 1902-
  • Kuykendall, Elgin Victor, 1870-1958 --Archives
  • Kuykendall, George Benson, 1907-
  • Kuykendall, Jerome K. (Jerome Kenneth), 1907-1987

Subject(s)

  • Government and Politics
  • Indians of North America--Northwest, Pacific--Legends
  • Native Americans
  • Oregon
  • Pacific Northwest History
  • Washington (State)

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Collection Inventory

Box

Deeds, contracts, leases, mortgages, releases, stock certificates, ca 1900-1956   100 items.

 1

Taxes: federal income tax forms, property tax statements, ca 1910-1956   200 items.

 1

Correspondence, bills and receipts, ca 1930-1950   200 items.

 1

Insurance: policies and correspondence, ca 1920-1956   100 items.

 2

Account books and stockholder registry books 1909-1935   6.0 items.

 2

Briefs, depositions, motions re: Superior Court cases in Asotin, Benton, and Columbia Counties 1917-1949   50 items.

 3

Briefs, depositions, motions re: Superior Court cases in Franklin, Garfield, King, Kittitas, Spokane, Walla Walla and Whitman Counties 1924-1949   50 items.

 4

Judge Kuykendall's personal notes on court cases and trials: 
Box

 1927-1935   9.0 items.

 5

 1937-1945   9.0 items.

 6

 1946-1949   4.0 items.

 7

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Box

Marriages, licenses and ceremony   15 items.

 7

Niccolls trial correspondence 1931   50 items.

 7

Naturalization proceedings: correspondence and documents 1927-1949   300 items.

 7

Practice legal practice 1935-1955   300 items.

 8

State Bar Association and Superior Court Judges Association correspondence 1934-1948   60 items.

 8

Testimony before Interstate Commerce Commission 1938   1.0 item.

 8

Eighty years in the changing West: memoirs of E. V. Kuykendall 1954 

 9

The story of Lieutenant Gaston and the Steptoe Expedition 

 9

Some forgotten heroes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 

 9

The son of the Howling Wolf: story of Chief Kamiaken 

 9

Myths and legends of the Indians 

 9

The eagle cave legend 

 9

The contribution of the American Indian of Democracy Christian Indians 

 9

Religion of the American Indians 

 9

The emotional and expressive side of the American Indian 

 9

Legends of the Klickitats 

 9

Timothy: a neglected hero 

 9

Discussion of the Nez Perce Ceremony of Koyit, the Spring Festival 

 9

Koyit; the Nez Perce Spring thanksgiving festival 

 9

Prince Jane 

 9

The Isle of the Dead 

 9

History of the Columbia Center and the France-Haven tragedy (with documents) 

 9

Historic glimpses of Aostin County, with supplement of myths, legends and curious beliefs of Indians of the Northwest, main text also containing legends of Indians pertaining to the particular regions discussed. 1955 

 10

Father James Harvey Wilbur: his place in the history of the Northwest 

 10

Fort Simcoe: Former seat of the Yakima Indian Agency 

 10

Captain B.L.E. Bonneville in Eastern Oregon and Washington (with copies and transcripts of documents) 

 10

What we owe Robert Connell 

 10

Justice Brandeis 

 10

Report of the Historian (Garfield County Pioneer Association) 

 10

Observations of the landside election of 1946 

 10

Early history of the Pomeroy-Clarkston Road 

 10

On the opening of the Snake River Bridge 

 10

Remarks at the dedication of the new school building at Pomeroy 

 10

The wisdom of the ancients 

 11

Address to meeting of the judges 

 11

The British attitude toward the Italio-Ethiopian controversy 

 11

Statement submit... in relation to navigation on the Snake River 

 11

Speech given in Pullman 1933 

 11

Regarding the General Strike-- an attempted revolution in Seattle 1919 

 11

Our constitution 

 11

Evasion of Justice on the insanity plea 

 11

The Constitution of the United States 

 11

Speech to the Northwest Electrical Association 1921 

 11

Governmental regulation of public service 

 11

Lincoln Day banquet 1929 

 11

Early irrigation dreams 

 11

Citizenship and crime 

 11

Juvenile protection 

 11

Paroles and pardons 

 11

A confidential message to the judges 

 11

Speech on sex crimes 

 11

The Blackenstoes Show 

 11

Miscellaneous notes, quotes and transcripts of speeches 

 11

The guy from Syracuse: a drama in seven acts 

 11

Clippings of local history stories, by Kuykendall, C.S. Kingston, J.L. Ashbrook, and John White 

 11

Historical and biographical sketch of the Kuykendall Famile 

 11

Explanation of the operation of the Washington Department of Public Works 1923 

 11

Spalding Memorial Association, correspondence 1953-1954   8.0 items.

 11

Whitman Memorial Association, correspondence 1950   35 items.

 11

Fort Simcoe Restoration, correspondence 1953-1954   100 items.

 11

Lewis and Clark Memorial Association, correspondence, ca 1925   15 items.

 11

Source Research Bureau, correspondence 1925-1927   30 items.

 11

Elections, Garfield and Asotin County: returns, sample ballots, petitions, voter lists and campaign materials 1920-1950   70 items.

 12

Candidacy papers for judicial elections 1930-1940   25 items.

 12

Columbia Valley Association, correspondence 1931-1934   10 items.

 12

Certificates, licenses, and other papers 1870-1925   15 items.

 12

Souvenirs and mementos, ca 1920-1940   50 items.

 12

Testimony of Jerome Kuykendall upon his nomination as Chairman of Federal Power Commission 1953 

 13

Diaries 1923-1953   30 items.

 13

Photographs (prints and negatives) of E. V. Kuykendall, the Kuykendall Family, southwestern Washington, Pomeroy, Samuel Cosgrove 1892-1950   200 items.

 13

General Correspondence: 
Box

 1923-1933   500.0 items.

 14

 1933-1936   500.0 items.

 15

 1936-1938   500.0 items.

 16

 1938-1940   500.0 items.

 17

 1940-1942   500.0 items.

 18

 1942-1943   500.0 items.

 19

 1944-1945   500.0 items.

 20

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Box

Sons of the American Revolution, correspondence 1947-1951   200 items.

 21

Kiwanis Club, correspondence 1935-1937   300 items.

 21

Knights of Pythias Lodge, correspondence 1926-1945   400 items.

 22

Donor file 1946-1960   15 items.

 22

History of Garfield County, by E. V. Kuykendall. (added 7/6/1983 by Barbara Kovarik Gahl) 1955   1.0 item.

 22